Health & Medicine

  1. Humans

    Malaria parasites may have their own circadian rhythms

    Plasmodium parasites don’t depend on a host for an internal clock, studies suggest.

    By Jake Buehler
  2. Health & Medicine

    How fear and anger change our perception of coronavirus risk

    Americans are weighing whether to return to society. Behavioral scientist Jennifer Lerner discusses how emotions drive those decisions.

    By Sujata Gupta
  3. Health & Medicine

    The new COVID-19 drug remdesivir is here. Now what?

    Remdesivir may shorten recovery time for some people, but it isn’t available to everyone and it won’t end the pandemic on its own.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  4. Health & Medicine

    Kids can develop severe complications from COVID-19 in rare cases

    Respiratory failure has occurred in some infected children and an emerging inflammatory disease may be connected to the coronavirus.

    By Aimee Cunningham
  5. Health & Medicine

    Loss of smell and taste may actually be one of the clearest signs of COVID-19

    Data from a symptom tracker smartphone app used by millions of people shows two-thirds of positive patients reported losing these senses.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  6. Health & Medicine

    Florence Nightingale understood the power of visualizing science

    Florence Nightingale showed simple sanitation measures could stop infectious diseases’ spread, a timely message given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

    By Sujata Gupta
  7. Health & Medicine

    A multiple sclerosis drug may speed COVID-19 recovery

    One form of interferon may boost the immune system’s ability to fight the coronavirus early in infections, a small study suggests.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  8. Health & Medicine

    Door-to-door tests help track COVID-19’s spread in one Oregon town

    Surveying neighborhoods directly may give a more accurate view than mail-in tests and other methods, researchers say.

    By Laura Sanders
  9. Health & Medicine

    A pill for heavy metal poisoning may also save snakebite victims

    In mice, an oral medication delayed or even prevented death after a lethal dose of viper venom, a new study finds.

    By Christie Wilcox
  10. Health & Medicine

    Some existing drugs might fight COVID-19. One may make it worse

    Maps of interactions between coronavirus proteins and host proteins point to drugs that may slow viral growth, but cough medicine may stimulate growth.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  11. Anthropology

    16th century skeletons suggest the slave trade brought some diseases to Mexico

    Slaves buried in a 16th century grave in Mexico had hepatitis B and yaws, suggesting the slave trade helped spread some versions of those diseases.

    By Bruce Bower
  12. Health & Medicine

    Remdesivir is the first drug found to block the coronavirus

    Preliminary results suggest that an antiviral treatment speeds recovery from COVID-19.

    By Tina Hesman Saey